Things seem better on the other side
by RebeccaSoloSoto
Summary: Helga makes a wish for a better life, but will she have to give it up no matter how much she desperately wants to keep it? Before The Jungle Movie. They are slightly older.
1. Chapter 1

This wouldn't be the first time she went to school hungry.

This also wouldn't be the first time going to school in a dirty dress.

Miriam forgets to do most things, and Bob openly refuses to see anything is wrong. Perhaps he's just busy, but Helga cannot rationalize any of that because she's the one walking to the bus stop with an empty belly and wearing unclean clothes.

Thankfully her best friend Phoebe usually has something for her to munch on. It's most likely going to be a healthy alternative to what she would like but Helga has learned not to gripe when she's this famished.

As she rounded the corner the bus stop was insight, along with some of her classmates, but her petite friend was not. The scowl on Helga's face grew.

If Phoebe wasn't here yet then she most likely wouldn't be coming. The girl was never late, she prided herself on her punctuality.

That's when Helga remembered Phoebe had told her she'd be driven to school by her mother because there was some kind of meeting in the auditorium or something. Helga's hunger was clouding her memory. It did not help that Harold, who had just arrived at the stop, was munching on a candy bar. She only envied him in moments like this.

She turned her head to rid the image of him eating because the pain in her gut was almost too much to bear.

Helga looked around sheepishly and hoped no one noticed her dress was the same from yesterday, it had a mustard stain near the collar and if anyone pointed it out she was sure she would lose it and pound them into the pavement.

She hoped that wouldn't happen because she had been honestly, sincerely trying to be calmer and more social and keep her attitude at a level 6 instead if 10.

Helga was in sixth grade now so she figured she had better chill out because womanhood was coming faster than a bullet, or so that's what the health class video instilled in the minds of all the girls forced to watch it.

Helga shifted her books and sighed, without Phoebe she not only missed out on some food but she also was missing out on talking.

Even though she was toning down her image it was hard to erase the minds of the peers she had tortured and subjugated to childish games since they were all toddlers. Yes she was on better terms with them all but no one had dared to get as close as Phoebe had.

Well...that wasn't true either. There was one who tried almost everyday to break into a conversation with her. And she was perplexed as to why the oblong shaped head hadn't made it into her peripherals. Arnold her, to put it politely, crush was the one who tried ferociously to get acquainted with her on a day to day basis. She hoped it was for his undying love for her but she wasn't stupid. He was just being himself. Arnold was Arnold and it made her think that maybe it was herself molding to change instead of the other way around.

Helga stepped backwards on the side walk to let an elderly woman pass by and as she did so her eyes locked into a blonde head approaching.

But something was indefinitely different.

His walk was heavy. And it was like he were trying to hurt the ground with each step.

Arnold hadn't had a bad nights sleep, he hadn't woken up on the wrong side of the bed either but he was terribly upset. It was one of those days where he missed his parents even more. He was two years into searching for them and while having the journal was a great guide and comfort, he was nowhere even close to finding them then he was in the first place.

As Arnold walked the streets to the bus stop this morning it seemed everywhere he looked were smiling parents and the very blessed children to have them around.

Whenever he felt this way he tried to mourn privately at home but there was just something this day that kept him angry. So when he reached the stop and Gerald asked him if her were ok he began rant to his best friend.

Helga was eagerly over hearing everything as they came to a stop not too far from her.

"And that's just it Gerald, I get so mad that I haven't made progress that I want to quit but then I can't quit because their lives could be in danger and then I just end up feeling ashamed. I'm starting to believe my own doubts and like this morning I get mad when I see people with their parents. I'm so frustrated."

"I hear you Arnold but you can't give up, cause you know they wouldn't."

Helga pondered.

Parents. She had them sure but would she go to the ends of the Earth to find them?

No.

Because she was absolutely sure they would never go as far as getting into trouble for helping some tribe in the middle of the jungle. She wasn't even sure that they actually registered that the world didn't revolve around them.

Or that they had a young daughter at home to take care of.

Why did he struggle so much to find his parents when he had a loving family at home already? Why couldn't he move on and accept that he would never find them and that everyone else in his family believes his search to be in vain? She knew in her heart that his mission was important to him but she just couldn't see what he was doing to his family as anything but selfish.

Helga would give anything ANYTHING to have a family like his or closely resembling it. She would love to go home to hot meals and clean clothes and maybe it was her empty stomach fueling her rage but she clenched her books tight and practically flew over to Arnold.

"I don't know what you've got to complain about football head, I'm tired of you whining everyday. If you want parents so bad I'll give you mine. You don't realize how lucky you are!"

"Excuse me?" He said flabbergasted at her roughness.

"You heard me bucko."

Arnold stared at her with a deadpan look,"Helga I don't think you understand what I'm feeling. You've always had your parents so I would appreciate it if you would just back off."

It seemed the bus chose that precise time to pull in.

Helga was so off put she let out a huff and turned around without a word to get on the bus. Her money made a loud clang as it was thrown at the machine.

She took the first empty seat she saw which was at the back. Her arms crossed over her chest in resentment and she glared long and hard at the seat in front of her.

Her whole entire ride to school was spent fuming.

Clearly both of their situations were so drastically different that neither had time to contemplate the others scenario.

This forced Helga to recede into her mind and forced her violent actions to boil over.

Phoebe noticed the change at first glance because of how Helga emerged from the bus. She winced as Helga pushed Eugene to the ground,"Um good morning Helga...is everything ok?"

"Everything's just peachy Pheebs can't you tell?!"

She was really quite unsure of how to answer that.

"Once again Phoebe everyone, especially Arnold thinks I have this awesome perfect life and that my parents are amazingly normal. Sometimes I wish they all could walk a day in my shoes, like Arnold for instance. There are sometimes where I think having no parents would be better than what I got. At least he has grandparents that care, I don't even have that."

Phoebe clearly had no way to reply, she could only offer a concerned fleeting look before Helga unabashedly pushed by her and up the stairs to the front door of the school.

She bit her lip as she watched Helga disappear, she may understand what she's going through but she would never know how it felt.

And so the bell rang signaling the beginning of another day. Things were learned, some things were forgotten. Some students progressed while others seemed to come to a halt.

Helga spent most of her day zoned out in an apathetic trance. She wasn't able to think things through until she got home that night and expressed everything into her journal.

Her body slumped on her bed while holding it and she looked out at the stars. A shooting star flickered past.

It seemed silly but for a moment in her pondering she whispered to the stars,"I wish my parents were good and I didn't have to live like this anymore. I wish...I wish I had what Arnold had."

Her eyes flittered, becoming heavy, and she succumbed to the sleep she desperately needed.

Unbeknownst to her the forces at large heard her plea and decided to grant her wishes.

Regrettably, where bad is replaced with good, the good...must be replaced with the bad.

A delicate balance must be sustained...


	2. Chapter 2

This story won't be too terribly long. I'm hoping for it to wrap up in two or three more posts.

I hope this chapter answers the reviews I got.

They're out of character but that's the entire point

Please forgive grammar errors.

And sometimes I over explain things.

A hand gently stroking her hair is what initially woke her up. But she finally opened her eyes when a loving voice chimed through her room saying, "Helga dear, it's time to get up hunny."

She stared up at the owner of the voice, who turned out to be her mother and practically scrunched her eyebrow in terror.

"You okay Miriam? Did you maybe have one too many smoothies?"

The sound of her mothers booming laughter spread through the room like a wave and she replied, "Helga you're so silly! Now, get up, I've set all your clothes out for the day and breakfast is waiting for you downstairs."

The bed shifted as she stood and sashayed out of her door and Helga sprung up in disbelief.

Maybe she was still dreaming?

So she slapped herself, but the image of her clothes set out neatly and the smell of breakfast wafting through the open door did not change.

So Helga got up and tentatively dressed herself. Her clothes smelled of fresh laundry and were so crisp she would have sworn they were new.

Grabbing her books and backpack she ventured down to the kitchen where her father sat finishing his food. As soon as her saw her he got up and grabbed her which made Helga think the worst but he only wrapped her up tightly and gave her a noogie.

"Oh B when are you going to stop doing that to her? Helga is almost a lady now, she doesn't want her hair to get all messed up."

"I'll do what I can to keep my baby girl just that, my baby girl."

At this point he released her to sit back down.

Helga just stood there baffled.

"Dear? Take a seat before your eggs get cold." Miriam chattered from the fridge.

Helga's temper won over at that point.

"What is wrong with you two?! Are you playing a trick on me or something because its not funny!"

Her parents stared at her perplexed by her sudden onslaught of accusations.

"Helga you seem upset and my motherly instincts tell me it's not really about your father and I."

Bob chimed in, "You seem pretty stressed princess. Is it about that Alfred kid again?"

Her jaw literally dropped, "You mean A-Arnold? What's he got to do with anything?"

Bob put his hand to his chin as a gesture of confusion, "You know, the same kid who treats you like a load of crap. I been meaning to talk to his parents come to think of it."

"Load of crap? His parents? What are you going to do, fly to the jungle and find them?" She had never been so lost in all her life.

"Alright little lady I think you must have bumped your head. His parents aren't in the jungle, where would you have gotten a silly idea like that?"

A bright flash of consciousness bore through her memory and the wish she spoke before drifting off to sleep sounded out in her brain.

"I wish my parents were good and I didn't have to live like this anymore. I wish...I wish I had what Arnold had."

Did it really, truly work?

Had her prayers been answered and her dreams fulfilled?

Had she somehow made Arnold's life better in the process?

He had his parents?

And she finally was granted loving, caring parents like she always hoped?

Miriam's arms enclosed around her as a final reaffirmation of Helga's desire coming true and she insisted, "Sweetie what ever it is that's bothering you just know that me and your father are always here to talk."

"Yeah and if you need some one with muscle lets just say your old Dad packs a punch."

A smiled lifted on Helga's mouth as she beamed at both of them. "You guys have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear that."

Her mother hugged her with one more final squeeze and then sat her at the table where Helga smiled as she ate every mouthful of food.

"Oh shoot. Look at the time, Helga I think you missed the bus. I'll just have to drop you off at school on my way to work."

"Wow um, well thanks Dad."

"Anytime, but we gotta leave soon."

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The state of mind she was in as her fathers car pulled up to the school was a mix between joy and bliss. Nothing could destroy her attitude, even if she had a pop quiz in all of her classes!

She waved goodbye as he drove off, and as she adjusted her backpack and turned to go into the school she collided with what seemed like a brick wall.

Before she could respond ungraciously from her new position on the ground her assailant fired off first.

"What the heck is your problem?! Don't you ever watch where you're going you unibrow'd freak?!"

Sensing the familiar albeit harsh tone of voice her said unibrow rose to its maximum height when she finally saw the owner of the rude exclamation.

"Arnold?"

He did not reach his hand down to help her up.

He did not offer an apology.

His lip sneered aggressively and he turned his back on her and sauntered away.

She sat there dazed out if her mind.

Slowly her hands reached out for her things strewn on the sidewalk and she stood up defeated and irrevocably confused.

"I thought everything was better? I thought what I did helped him find his parents. What is he so angry about?"

"Helga you know as well as I do that Arnold's home life is not very good."

Helga clocked her eyes towards the sponsor of the voice who turned out to be Phoebe and inquired, "Not very good? How?"

"He has his parents, what more could he want?"

Phoebe lowered her eyes and bit her lip and finished by saying, "Just because he has parents doesn't mean everything is alright. You know his dad is a deadbeat and his mother is a workaholic. He is a perfect case of neglect as described in the child psychology book I have at home. I'm honestly just surprised he only verbally abused you this morning, he must be under strict watch after he pushed Harold so hard he broke his nose when he hit the ground. The principal must have warned him of suspension."

It clicked inside Helga. Arnold exhibited every trait that she carried, all her anger, all her loneliness and all her rage. She wished for Arnold's life so he must have gotten...

...Her own.

Kinda short.

This is moving slower than I thought. But I'm trying to do my best not to rush it.


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